Movie Night
by nanjarohoihoi
Summary: This was not the movie night Mack had envisioned.


The official website says that Mack's hobbies include building models and collecting anime. This fic has almost nothing to do with this fact. Minor spoiler warnings for "Things Not Said". Thank you to muse_in_denial for the beta!

**Movie Night**

When Mack had initially pictured a movie night with his fellow rangers, he had imagined them screening a B-rated action flick. He had not anticipated how much trouble they would have deciding on what to watch.

Everyone was growing impatient as Dax went through the mansion's DVD collection with gusto, trying to find something he hadn't already seen. "I've seen this!" he cheered, pulling out a case and then quickly moving on to the next one on the shelf. "And this too! Oh, and this!"

It was then that Mack muttered something about having more DVDs in his room. It only occurred to him later that none of them had ever been in his room before.

"Wow," Will said,. "Your room is huge." He sounded impressed.

Ronny was slightly more critical. "And it's full of... anime?"

"I like Gundam," he explained with a shrug. He didn't like all anime as much as he liked Gundam. Though the last time he had really thought about Gundam was before his ranger days, there were a handful of mobile suit models on his shelves and two posters on his wall.

Rose eyed him curiously and he could tell by the look on her face that the irony of his love for a series featuring giant robots wasn't lost on her.

Dax spotted his DVD collection and made a b-line for it. His collection was mostly Gundam-related, which made Mack belatedly wonder why he had bothered mentioning it in the first place.

Dax went through these DVDs in the same manner as the collection downstairs. "I've seen this!" he called. "And this! And this! And this one too!"

Will rolled his eyes, and Mack agreed with the sentiment. This wasn't getting them anywhere.

Just as Mack decided he probably should show them out of his room, Dax held a DVD up to the light. With a puzzled expression, he admitted, "I definitely haven't seen this."

Ronny came up behind him to examine what he had found. She took one look at it and burst out laughing. "Hey, Mack!" she called. "Dax found your porn collection!"

Before Mack could properly process what was going on, Will quickly shouldered himself between Ronny and Dax to see what they were talking about. He pulled the case out of Dax's hand and smirked. "'Hot girl on girl action'", he read aloud, turning to raise an eyebrow at Mack. "Man, you've been holding out on me."

At that moment, Mack wanted to nothing more than to crawl into a hole and hide there for a very, very long time.

Rose plucked the DVD from Will's hands and examined it critically. Mortified, Mack stared at the carpet, expecting her to launch into a lecture on the objectification on the female body. What he did not expect was her casually saying, "It looks interesting."

He looked up at her then, startled. She shrugged.

Will took the DVD back and looked around the room for consensus. "So it's decided then?" he asked.

When Dax, Ronny and Rose all nodded, Mack stared at them in horror, his face growing redder by the second. They couldn't be serious. "What?" Mack sputtered. He tried to make sense of what had just happened and failed. "Wait. You want to-- what!?"

Ronny smiled smugly at him as she made her way to the door. "This is going to be worth it for your facial expressions alone."

As they filed out of his room, DVD proudly clutched in Will's hand, Mack eyed the wall and wondered if it would collapse if he slammed his head into it.

Ultimately he decided against causing structural damage to the mansion, but he was still embarrassed when they entered the lounge. He probably wouldn't have cared if it was someone else's DVD, but the fact that it was his put him on edge. Uncomfortably, he took a seat on the couch to the right of Dax. Rose sat in front of him on the ground.

He buried his face in his hands when Will put in the DVD and Ronny dimmed the lights. Ronny must have been watching for his reaction, because as she took a seat on the opposite side of the room, she decided, "Yep! I was right about the facial expressions!"

Mack wondered, idly, if this was what going mad felt like.

He watched the action on the screen from in-between his fingers. He couldn't quite get over the fact they were watching this. Together. And that no one else seemed to be disturbed by this fact in any way.

Mack was sure nothing else could surprise him when Rose commented, "She's faking it."

Mack blinked at the back of her head.

"How can you tell?" Will asked.

Before Rose could elaborate, there was a knock on the lounge door. Mack froze like a deer in headlights and he heard Ronny burst out laughing from the other side of the room. He was never, ever going to live this down.

Will got up to open the door.

"Here is the popcorn you requested," Spencer said, handing two large bowls over to Will.

Presumably because he heard sounds from the television, Spencer popped his head into the room. He took in the image on the screen, the casual manner in which Will was handing out the popcorn, and the way Mack was beginning to curl up into the fetal position on the couch. Before he could ask, Ronny took a handful of popcorn and explained, "We found Mack's porn collection."

Apparently unperturbed, Spencer nodded. "I see. It's not exactly respectable, but to each their own." Apparently Mack's current state of mortification wasn't enough, so as he left, Spencer muttered, "Though I'd hardly call two DVDs a collection."

"Zing!" Dax shouted, not looking away from the screen.

Mack glanced at the wall and thought that maybe the destruction of the mansion was a small price to pay for his sanity.

Dax offered him one of the bowls of popcorn. Mack took a handful in an attempt to distract himself. When he looked back up, he realized that everyone else in the room had their eyes glued to the screen and their heads turned to the side.

"Is that even physically possible?" Ronny asked.

Without missing a beat, Rose answered, "It is."

They all stared at her. She shrugged around the popcorn bowl in her lap. "What?" she asked, tossing a glance behind her. "It is."

Mack made the mistake of looking at Ronny and she laughed so hard that she almost tipped over the bowl on the cushion next to her. "So worth it!" she declared.

Mack found a pillow to bury his face in. The pillow slowly migrated into his lap and he watched the rest of the movie peering over the top of it. When it was finally over and Will turned on the lights, Mack was relieved. Well, he was until Ronny declared, "I'm going to get part two," and sped off in a yellow streak towards his bedroom.

While he slammed his forehead with his palm, Rose pried the pillow away from him. "That was pretty good," she said of the movie, and coming from her, it was high praise. It was also mildly terrifying.

He turned away from her only to find Dax grinning at him mischievously. "What?" he asked, regretting it almost instantly. He really didn't want to know Dax's opinion of the film. He was sure he had prepared himself for the worst, but nothing could have prepared him for Dax asking, "So, can you really watch DVDs in your head?"

By the door, Ronny doubled over in laughter and confirmed, "This was totally worth it!"


End file.
